NBA early summer predictions: Kevin Durant
Credit to Author: MICHAEL ANGELO B. ASIS| Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:34:45 +0000
The NBA season is on the homestretch and the biggest story is how LeBron James, the most dominant player in the world for the better of the past decade will be on the outside looking in.
With the game’s best player looking ahead, the NBA media has run amuck with predictions, scoops and fake news. There are calculated hunches on one end and wild conspiracy theories on the other. Here’s a look at what’s buzzing around the NBA stratosphere.
The future of Kevin Durant
Along with LeBron’s dominance in the East, there was the biggest collaboration to beat him in the West. When the second best player in the world joined the NBA’s record breaking team, even the King had to acknowledge that he is facing a monster he can’t defeat.
Kevin Durant’s decision to join the best shooting team in the NBA that already won a ring and set the highest regular season record clipped off the “favorite” tag from the Golden State Warriors and replaced it with “ridiculously unbeatable.” The rest of the league, except perhaps the Houston Rockets’ GM Daryl Morey, are left waiting for the storm from the Bay Area to end — and that might arrive this summer.
Durant was a free agent last season but there was hardly any conversation about him. The tone drastically changed and it came to a head with the shouting match at the huddle between KD and Draymond Green. Green spilled the beans: The Warriors are bothered by KD’s free agency.
The unofficial consensus around NBA circles is that Durant is leaving. They cite various reasons: he’s gotten tired of winning (unlikely), he is frustrated at how the Warriors will always be Steph Curry’s team (likely) and in a podcast with Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, he stated that he wants to “stack money” on his next contract.
The face of the NBA’s most valuable franchise
NBA players earn more money now than just their salary for playing basketball. Michael Jordan set this tone in the 90s and the trend never slowed down. Shoe deals, endorsements, movie and TV appearances — all augment an athlete’s paycheck, sometimes amounting even more than the player’s actual salary. Such is the case for transcendent stars like James, Durant, Curry and the like.
There is a vacant space for the NBA’s money making throne, and that is being the superstar for the New York Knicks. Forbes appraised the Knicks as the most valuable NBA franchise for several years in a row. Even the Lakers are just second. Simply being in the top markets is enough to drive up the price. As the old saying goes, the key to big business is “Location, location, location.”
If Durant is offered the reins of the Big Apple, Madison Square Garden’s savior — that may just be too tempting to refuse. No matter his stats or awards, Finals MVP or what not, the Warriors are Curry’s team and he is the face of the Bay Area. This summer, KD will get the chance to take over New York AND pick a sidekick with their cap space.
Suddenly, it all makes sense to leave a (possible) three-time defending champion team, and Durant is now rising to tycoon status in the same way LeBron did before him.
One big clue
Ideally, the bond between athletes and agents should be close to brotherhood. A seamless partnership could make top athletes and agencies even more powerful than they already are. In the NBA, the model — again — is LeBron James and Rich Paul.
Durant has a similar bond with Rich Kleiman. Kleiman doesn’t consider KD as just a client — he is a business partner and they even referred to each other as “brothers.” Sounds familiar.
James moved his business Headquarters to LA in the summer of 2017. Then came the house purchase, the kids enrolling in an LA school. Now, LeBron is a Laker.
In a case of Déjà vu, KD, with partner Kleiman recently moved their Thirty Five Ventures HQ to New York last February. Take a lucky guess on how this story ends.
Next: Twice Upon A Time in Hollywood?
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